United Kingdom Books

This is the textbook you wish you'd had when you studied history in school. Maurice Keen presents a thouroughly researched and well thought out overview of the primary social and political events of England from the reign of Edward I to that of Richard III. He starts with the death of Alexander III of Scotland and the political crisis that ensued, leading England into the wars of Scottish independence. He analyzes the wars from an economic as well as a political and social perspective, and presents convincing arguments for why Edward II was an unsuccessful king and Edward III more effective. He examines the role of the church during the later middle ages and sets the stage for England's eventual reformation of the church in the Tudor era. The Hundred Years War is examined not in the details of its battles, but in its effect on English politics and society and how its cost changed the relationship between the king and English nobility. In every chapter Keen takes the reader through how the acts of the various rulers during this time period had a profound and lasting effect on all segments of English society, from the nobility to the clergy to the merchants to the peasants.

Although some of the economic arrangements are difficult to follow in places, at least for someone without a background in economics, Keen's prose is highly readable, grammatically correct and eloquent, and the chapters are divided into manageable and logical chunks. Keen's footnotes are largely references to his considerable source material and can be safely ignored except by those interested in the specific backup for a point of reference. Keen doesn't seem to have a political agenda, which is a refreshing change from most books on the period.

I suspect this book might be a little bit difficult for someone without at least a basic knowledge of the time period, but much less so than many of the scholarly and even some of the less scholarly works covering this period. This is, in short, a book that is highly readable from cover to cover, and a great straightforward examination of the political, social and economic changes that occurred in England between the end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the Renaissance.

This is a fascinating and erudite overview of medieval Europe - one that combines lucidity and accessibility with an exceedingly high level of scholarship. Maurice Keen is a distinguished proponent of the Southern tradition of medieval history, and a ready reminder that the school of Bruce McFarlane is not the only voice of Oxford medievalism.

To paraphrase H.G Wells rather melodramatically, no one would believe in the first years of the 21st century that this nation was once watched keenly and covetously by formidable personalities from across the channel; that as Englishmen busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied...

The aftermath to the Battle of Hastings was violent and ruthless. William of Normandy's achievements can be seen as a formidable combination of both clear-minded political magination and merciless, hard-nosed execution. However, after William's victory in 1066, the English were not a people who could simply roll over and allow the invaders free access to the island's bounty. A tough and equally brutal resistance was fought against Norman rule for a further five years.

Peter Rex's brilliantly researched book overturns today's meekly accepted stance that the Normans invaded and that was that. Walt, in Julian Rathbone's "The Last English King", refuses to call William 'the Conqueror' (preferring, as you might expect, an earthier soubriquet referencing William's illegitimacy) and the impression you get from "The English Resistance" is similarly one of a population rejecting the concept that they are under enemy control.

Every campaign fought during the years 1067 to 1071 is detailed, with Rex analysing the resistance's character, its motives and its triumphs and disappointments. Here, we are focussed on a time when England was divided into occupied and unoccupied zones, collaborative areas and no-go districts, resistance movements spreading through remote areas of the country.

The book examines William's responses, his initial attempts at pacification, and then the notorious harrying of the north (a rather impotent euphemism that, I've always thought, for which we might readily substitute 'genocide' or 'ethnic cleansing' if these battles and skirmishes were being played out on our news screens today). This is an eloquent portrayal of a chaotic period, which demonstrates that the English were not conquered as easily as was once thought. Perhaps the comparison with "The War of the Worlds" isn't quite so inappropriate after all.

Having interest in this period since college days and having books on the shelf of this period, I was pleasantly surprised at last to find a book that told of the period after the 1066 conquest. Most generally whether in college courses or history books dealing with this era, everything halts at the conquest. Everything was fine, peaceful, everyone working together, right? Well as the author relates, nothing could be farther from the tragic truth. 'Ethnic cleansing' of our age had its predecessor in England after 1066.

However, as this author and his engrossing book tell much happened in this hardly ever written about "underground war against the Normans". The book is well written, easy to comprehend, and shows the resistance the English continued to offer after the 1066 battle. William did not begin to build the Tower of London because all things were peaceful, no, and in many, many other places as well small castles were needed to keep William's men from being themselves wiped out. All important offices were taken from the English and given to the Norman vassals, a complete changing of the guard.

Though some would view William as offering 'pacification attempts' the truth more nearly approaches a campaign of totally doing away with the native population. William seems to have had little use, trust, or respect for any native English person. The sooner they were gone the better.

This is some story and one wonders just why no one else through the years has bothered to tell it. History at its best.

Semper Fi.

On The English Warrior by Stephen Pollington

One clarification needs repeating: this book is about the Anglo-Saxon military experience, from their early (mythic) raids and use as mercenaries, up to 1066. For those interested in the Anglo-Saxon way of war, I think this book would be very valuable. It is divided into three parts: the warrior in society, his weapons, and military strategy and tactics. The first part deals with the warrior's relationship to his lord, dueling, the gods of warriors (Woden and Thor, particularly), shield-maidens, berserkers, and so on. The second part will be especially interesting to reenactors and the like. Pollington has gathered and summarized a lot of technical data from various sources. His discussion of the sword is not very long (14 pages), but he discusses the spear (10 pages), the axe (3), the shield, (9), as well as seax, helmet, armor, the bow, and oddities. The later include the hammer and the "staff-sword", which seems to be a slashing spear like the Norse `hoggspjot'. In his discussion of the spear, he cites Swanton's typology in toto, all 30-odd types, with lengths and descriptions of each type, and illustrations of many of them. One item I found entirely new to me was the "corrugated" cross-section of spearheads; the flattened-diamond ones and lenticular (lens-shaped) ones were familiar, but some late spears had a cross-section like a diamond with only two surfaces hollow-ground, or like a sheet of metal folded, then folded back to leave a ridge in the middle: the result resembles a Nazi SS lightening-bolt insignia more than anything else. There is a classification of shield bosses, and where each type was popular - lots of useful data in one handy volume. The section on warfare is well done too. Pollington discusses tactics and strategy, the use of horses and fortifications and so on.

Some noteworthy features of this book: there are lots of quotes, and excellent line drawings of artwork, archeological finds and the like. For the doubting Thomases in his readership, all the quotes are given in the original (mostly Old English, some Old Norse) as well as his own translations. Pollington has also written a couple of books on learning Old English, so I am inclined to trust his translations. ]Beowulf is well represented, also the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, but a lot of more obscure texts as well. For practitioners of Western Martial Arts, rest easy. One of credits goes to Terry Brown of English MartialArts, so the statements on the use of weapons have been vetted by an experienced teacher in their use. The piece de resistance, however, is the three appendices. These are the full texts of the three great OE military poems, in parallel translation: the battles of Finnsburh, Brunanburh, and Maldon.

I recommend this work highly. It compliments Davidson's The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England, dealing with many other weapons, and both social and military matters, as well as having lots of illustrations. It fits opposite Paddy Griffith's Viking Way of War, dealing with defense against the Vikings, and has technical and personal matters Griffith omits.

Details: 267 pages, extensive bibliography (5 close-set pages), scattered (unobtrusive) footnotes. Copyright 1996, ISBN 1-898281-10-6

You need not be a military history buff to find this book interesting. Another reviewer has done a good job of describing the book's features, so I'll just mention a few things I particularly liked: It is well organized -- e.g., with sections for various types of weapons. The drawings are clear and useful; they include bits of the Bayeux tapestry, drawings of archeological items, and diagrams of weapons. The quotations from source material (e.g., Old English poetry) and discussion of OE terminology give insight into the Anglo-Saxon culture. "English Warrior" is a highly readable survey for the interested layman.

This book attempts to get beyond the legends and what everyone knows about the battle. It delivers a description of the times and what else was going on in the world. The author provides a small biography of the major (and minor) players including what brought them to that battlefield. He recognizes that alot of what is known(?) about the battle comes from the Bayeaux tapestry which is obviously a piece of propoganda which the Normans used to tell their version of the story.

The author does a very good job changing the viewpoint he is using depending on who he is talking about. There were three claimants to the throne of England in 1066 and several important battles including Hastings which decided the matter. He builds the background very well describing how Duke William had difficulty getting his army across the English Channel and Harold was fighting the Battle of Standford Bridge in the North so he could not be near the south of England when the landings did take place.

I would recommend this book to those interested in the time period along with anyone interested in how historians can determine truth from fable on a history with little unbiased information available. The author does a very good job of finding obscure and seemingly unrelated records which back up some claims and dispute others that have been made.

Other books tend to get better publicity regarding the events of 1066 in England but few are as good as this one. Most books detailing events of 1066 tend to make conclusions about the different personalities motives that defy common sense and often leave the reader more frustrated than enlightened. Tetlow's, on the other hand enlightens the casual reader and scholar. This book has good prose, great information and excellent conclusions from intelligent reasoning. Tetlow is one of the few writers to clearly explain the affect the geography of the land had on the different battles and is convincing in his arguments.

Tetlow also lets you know what level of certainty modern researchers can use various sources. Certainly modern writers can't know with certainty what motivated each of the main individuals in this important period of history but Tetlow does a good job of trying. He makes the wise decision to not impose 20th century values on 11th century people, and he neatly interprets ancient values so the modern reader can understand what went on and why.

I've read more than 20 books on the subject and if I were going to read just one book on the events of 1066 then this is the one. It's a great unappreciated book.

I have not read this book. However, I'd like to point out that Tim Berners-Lee claims that it was the inspiration for his inventing the World Wide Web. !!!

This detailed Victorian compendium of advice & instructions is fascinating. I first ran across mention of it in an Agatha Christie mystery, and it sounded like an interesting peek into the encyclopedic rules, customs, and social beliefs of a certain class in this era--which it is--but I never expected it to be so much fun to read!!

Densely written, thin-leaved, this book is invaluable if you want to delve into questions ranging from "which hand should a lady use to accept a gift from a gentleman whose attentions she wishes to discourage?" to "How can I tell this fish is fresh?" to "How much should I pay the second housemaid?" to "Where should I store nails?"
It includes recipes for food, medicines, and cleansers, accounting tables, morals, stern admonishments on proper dress, child-rearing instructions, and so much more I can't begin to approach the subject. Each question answered is numbered, and appears in a loose order, but the accompanying index helps to organize it somewhat; each page is topped by a Poor-Richard-style aphorism that might or might not relate to that page's content.

If you've ever been seriously or casually interested in How People Lived Back Then (and There; it appears aimed mainly at a London audience of middle-to-upper class, but again, I didn't get far enough through to be sure)--you will find something to enthrall, amuse or enlighten you here.

ETA: the foreword describes it best, proclaiming:

""Whether You Wish to Model a Flower in Wax;
to Study the Rules of Etiquette;
to Serve a Relish for Breakfast or Supper;
to Plan a Dinner for a Large Party or a Small One;
to Cure a Headache;
to Make a Will;
to Get Married;
to Bury a Relative;
Whatever You May Wish to Do, Make, or to Enjoy,
Provided Your Desire has Relation to the Necessities of Domestic Life,
I Hope You will not Fail to 'Enquire Within.'"--Editor..."

I, too, have had the pleasure of studying with Dr. Horrox; however, I have had the added pleasure of having read this book. Dr. Horrox's choice of essays, her deft handling of the material, and the overall significance of the material is, not unexpectedly, superb.

i must confess that i haven't read this book just YET-- but i have looked for it forever, it seems. the reason i feel that i am justified in reviewing a book i haven't read is that i have had the extraordinary pleasure of getting it, as they say, straight from the horse's mouth. she was one of my professors at summer school in cambridge. her class was entitled life, literature and art 1000-1500 and was probably the most enjoyable class i've ever taken. she would never look at the class (we were warned that she wouldn't) but she would roam back and forth across the front of the room, looking up, looking down, and speaking almost as if to herself of the most fascinating bits of information. while other teachers were dry or commanding or chummy, she was just genuinely informative. she spoke of history as if it were the juiciest gossip that you held your breath to hear more of. if ms. horrox can write half as well as she teaches this book should be one of the greatest reads imaginable for anyone with even the slightest hint of interest on the subject. cheers, ms. horrox.

This book is a comprehensive volume with songs in Scottish, Irish, and Manx Gaelic as well as Cornish, Welsh, and English.

I played a few tunes out of this book at my friends house and had to get it. There are so many beautiful folk songs that can be played on any instrument.

First published in 1973, this work remains the best place to start for any exploration into what the English ate, when it was consumed, and why they started. As a librarian, Wilson had access to an outstanding collection of cookery books that were given to the University of Leeds's Brotherton Library, and she made great use of them to talk about the "gradual changes and developments in the preparation of foodstuffs in Britain". This is not a cookbook and does not include historical adaptations. Any recipes that are included are there to illustrate a method or ingredient and are written as part of the text. Chapters are arranged by category or type of food. For example, chapter 4 covers "Wild fowl, tame fowl and eggs"; these subjects are then discussed in a chronological fashion, proceeding from the ancients, the Romans, early medieval, etc. Wilson includes a marvelous bibliography and footnotes that can be used to further explore the subject. For a work that is nearly 30 years old, it is still an essential reading and shelf reference volume for culinary and social historians. Any general reader with an interest in British history or social customs would also find it of great value.

As a writer and a devotee of history, I am always looking for the ultimate resourse books on anything and everything from A-Z. And that is what this book is, the ultimate book on what Brits ate from stone age days to Victorian era! Not a "quickie" book, but a thorough researched book on the diet of our ancestors. It broken down into chapters in food types, the one fault I have with the book (wish it had been broken down in periods of time or at least cross-references. Maybe next updated printing?

But if you are a writer needed to know if the food fits the period, you really need this. Easy prose so it does not come across as dull facts.

An absolute must for all romance writers!

I do NOT work for any book company that's trying to pump sales of a book & I found this book to be very interesting & informative. The small print & close lines might make some put it back on the shelf, but it's so interesting to see how the socioeconomic forces in Victorian England influenced the foods that were consumed, which eventually led to some of the traditional foods we eat. It is slow reading--you won't whip throught this in an evening, but it's funny how people are so nostalgic about the homey environments that seem to typify the fond attachments to anything Victorian, but nobody thinks about all the grunt work involved in producing the big, elaborate meals or how much effort was involved in the cleanup. This book isn't for everyone, but if you want to educate yourself as well as learn why we eat some of the foods we eat today, you'll probably enjoy it.

College-level culinary libraries strong in Victorian history will appreciate Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History, with its survey of Victorian times introduced by nine recipes detailing examples of food production, cooking and diet in early England. Discussions go far beyond the usual cookbook to include surveys of kitchen arrangement and duties, dining habits, social influences on food and wine choices, and much more. An excellent survey any college-level culinary collection specializing in food history will relish.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The stories in this collection are vignettes of South African lives masterfully written. I was very impressed with how well developed the characters are. I read this book for a grad course under a grueling deadline, but still found it very enjoyable.

Njabulo Ndebele's "Fools and Other Stories" is masterfully written. An enchanting blend of traditional South African storytelling and riveting modern prose, Ndebele poetically tells of the post-apartheid struggle that plagues his nation. A must read for any fan of Coetzee or Gordimer.